The people on the bus

This song depicts a bus ride through a city. Many things happen as the people travel through the city. Money chings, mothers and fathers speak. But it is very enjoyable but just a little too happy sometimes. However it sometimes can make a very long bus ride just a little bit shorter. You don't have to stick to the lyrics written here you can make up your own. I found out that YMCA uses this as a campfire song as well. It is to be sang in a cheeryfun voice, in any range that your body can handle. Low to high whatever fits your voice. In some cases the song also comes with actions. Like when the wheels on the bus verse is sang the people singing will make circles with their fingers, and bounce up and down when the people on the bus verse is sang.

All I can really remember about this song is that the first time I sang it was in kinder-garden. We actually prepared for the bus ride with a few songs. Because it relates to a bus ride it is mostly to be sang on a bus. I am sure people had been singing this song long before I had. If anybody knows the actual history please add it. Or any variation of the song too.

The Wheels on the bus go round and round
round and round, round and round
The wheels on the bus go round and round
All through the town

The people on the bus go up and down
Up and down, up and down
The people on the bus go up and down
All through the town

The money on the bus goes ching-a-ling-a-ling
Ching-a-ling-a-ling, Ching-a-ling-a-ling
The money on the bus goes ching-a-ling-a-ling
All through the town

The mommy on the bus says you're so sweet
You're so sweet, you're so sweet
The mommy on the bus says you're so sweet
All through the town

The daddy on the bus says
I love you I love you, I love you
The daddy on the bus says I love you
All through the town

The baby on the bus says waa-waa-waa
Waa-waa-waa, waa-waa-waa
The baby on the bus says waa-waa-waa
All through the town

The children on the bus say let's play games
Let's playgames, let's play games
The children on the bus say let's play games
All through the town

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If you come from a place in life where all your needs are met and all your major problems are existential in nature, then riding public transportation can be a little depressing.

I live in Tampa, right on the #2 route, the busiest in the county. It's a very convenient route, shooting north-south from downtown to the University area, almost European service, right down to the basers and blue-collar unemployed. Most of the time, it's pretty uneventful. But there are times when it's like walking into a Tom Waits song. You see, the people on the bus are of a very worn-down sort. The bus is for people who can't afford to take any other means of getting from Point A to Point B, and the circumstances of socio-economic oppression take their toll over the years. It shows on their faces. People age prematurely, flowers stunted by poor soil, careless gardners and neglected watering.

But if you look past the torn clothing and unwashed flesh, you can eventually come to see the blazing plasma confinement chambers of life pounding away madly underneath. This, dear readers, is America the beautiful, with nicotine-stained teeth and scuffed shoes. Get to know them; you can learn a lot more from the guy on the receiving end of a social services program, than any of the administrators and staff.

Here are a couple of the people I've seen and met on the #2:

The Heroin Angel --- coming home one night, I sat behind a deathly-thin man in his early thirties. He was covered in tattoos and his arms were cratered with the scars of a thousand dirty needles, but when he turned around right before my stop, he had features I could only describe as angelic. I felt the closest thing I've ever felt to entertaining an angel unawares. I never saw him again, but I keep looking for him whenever I ride the bus.

Noah --- I had some great conversations with this guy. BuddhistNavajo man, recovering alcoholic, wore shirts he made himself, covered in writings about veganism and non-violence. I held signs with him down Bayshore one morning for a climate rally. I run into him once in a while, and every time, it's mind-blowing. I want to go to the temple with him one day, when I get a free morning.

John and Verne --- John was from 'Lost', which is about one exit and a couple of winding roads past 'the Woods' (as he put it). His family wound up there two generations ago, fresh off the boat from Ireland. Jules was another Navajo, from Arizona, and he wandered around the country over the years until he wound up in Tampa. I met them at the transit center up near the University, and John struck up a conversation with me, sparked by the keffiyeh I was wearing. Over the course of a half-hour, we three talked about the war in Afghanistan ("Where empires go to die," I said), the economy, Tampa death metal, the Constitution and world history.